RSP Film Room No.35: Alabama S Landon Collins

Landon Collins needs to be a bully…not that—well, I’ll take that Bully, too…more often. Photo by Roger Smith.

GM Jr.’s Josh Liskiewitz visits the program and shares his assertion that the Crimson Tide safety is not the first-round value many believe.

If attending the Senior Bowl to study players was like a year of elementary school, Josh Liskiewitz and I have known each other since the first grade. When I invited Josh on the show 6-8 weeks ago he chose Collins, which made me happy because it was the RSP Film Room’s first look at a defensive back. Josh has studied seven games of Collins and believes the Crimson Tide defender is a fourth-round talent.

This view is against the conventional thought that Collin is a first-day pick. In this 53-minute episode, Josh and I watch the Alabama-Mississippi State duel and note the following:

What Josh wants from a safety.

Why NFL defensive coordinators still want big box safeties and offensive coordinators are only too happy when one is taken?

Why Collins’ game says should I? when it should say I will.

What Collins’ angles say about his confidence in his athleticism.

When taking false steps is an easy fix and when it’s a harder fix in a prospect.

How a game-sealing interception can still be a bad play when charting a player.

Josh admits that this was Collins’ worst game and I can vouch for that statement. Pull up a highlight clip and you’ll see better tackling, decisive reactions, and more displays of Collins’ athleticism translating to the field. However, Josh’s point that there should be concerns about Collins’ game has merit. The Mississippi State contest has Collins looking more like that hanger-on of the bully who gets his shots in only after the bully does the work.

Collins will have to be that bully more often to merit that first-round pick.